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31 Aug 2014

“Carbon” is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann and directed by Leila Conners. Executive Producers are George DiCaprio, Earl Katz and Roee Sharon Peled. Carbon is produced by Mathew Schmid and was written by Thom Hartmann, Sam Sacks, Leila Conners and Mathew Schmid. Music is composed and performed by Jean-Pascal Beintus and intro drone by Francesco Lupica. Carbon is produced by Tree Media with the support of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

Published by the
Jackal

30 Aug 2014

Today, the corrupt and arrogant Judith Collins was forced to resign. Clearly her position had already become untenable because of her involvement in the Oravida debacle and a smear campaign against a public servant. Because of Collins and attack blogger Cameron Slater's conspiracy, Simon Pleasants received serious death threats against himself and his family.

Coupled with previous evidence of her corruption, the letter released to Prime Minister John Key late last night showing that she was "gunning" for SFO Director Adam Feeley meant that there was no other choice. The Prime Minister had to sack...I mean accept the resignation of the immoral Justice Minister, Judith Collins.

From Cam SlaterTo mark {redacted] CarrickOk guys here is an update on the state of play on Adam Feeley.Today is the 4th straight day of headlines and additional revelations about Adam FeeleyI am maintaining daily communications with Jared Savage at the Herald and he is passing information directly to me that the Herald can't run and so are feeding me to run on the blog. in the meantime I also have additional information flowing in via my tipline. That information will be drip fed into the media or via my blog.Herald articlesFran O'Sullivan: More than a storm in a champagne fluteEditorial: SFOs bubbly an error of judgmentSFO bubby celebrations vindictive: PetricevicEx-SFO chief decries champagne incidentCathy can outline her contact with Fran O'Sullivan separately. Basically though the Herald and other media are now picking up our lines that this situation is like "Caesar's Wife" where the SFO must be beyond reproach. If he nicked a bottle of wine what else has he nicked or hidden from receivers and liquidators?So far the Herald has been running NBR to publish on Friday. Cathy will be chatting with Jock Anderson and I will cover Matt Nippert.Our (Cathy's) nickname for Feeley (Five Fingers Feeley) has stuck. journalists ringing me actually use to describe Feeley now in phone conversations.I also spoke at length with the Minister responsible today (Judith Collins). She is gunning for Feeley. Any information that we can provide her on his background is appreciated. I have outlined for her a coming blog post about the massive staff turnover and she has added that to the review of the State Services Commissioner. She is using the review of these events to go on a trawl looking for anything else. It is my opinion that Feeley's position is untenable.I have also arranged with Matthew Hooton for iPredict (https://www.ipredict.co.nz) the prediction markets to have a new stock released so people can invest on the probability of Adam Feeley getting the sack before Christmas or leaving. These stocks [Email cuts off]

Clearly this email shows that Judith Collins shouldn't just resign from her duties as a Minister, she should be charged with corruption as well. By actively participating in a campaign to undermine the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Judith Collins has broken numerous parliamentary codes of conduct and judicial laws. In my opinion she should be charged at the soonest opportunity.

This email also raises serious concerns about press impartiality in New Zealand, especially the issue of certain journalists such as Fran O'Sullivan, Jock Anderson and Matt Nippert appearing to use blogs to publish information they cannot publish themselves. Obviously there are good reasons why they aren't meant to usurp the law and publish certain material through a third party.

This gives the distinct impression that these journalists are biased and were undertaking covert operations for their own vested interests or misguided political beliefs.

It appears that a number of journalists were also receiving information from Cameron Slater that was likely sourced from the Minister in question or other National party officials. Because of the sensitive information the government has at its fingertips, this is perhaps the most serious issue to come out of the Dirty Politics scandal. Who knows how many people they have tried to blackmail or discredit because of their access to people's private information?

It also shows that there was insider trading with iPredict's Matthew Hooton using the website to promote certain politicians and attack public officials like Adam Feeley. This type of behaviour is entirely unacceptable in a so-called democracy.

Personally I would be spitting tacks about now if I were to learn of a concerted effort by the government and their propagandists to undermine my professional career. Let's hope this mess starts to get cleaned up before polling day. However I presume that the infection runs very deep within the ranks of the right wing and will take a number of years to remedy.

There is no question that this requires more than just a simple resignation to put right...it requires those involved to come clean about their dirty and underhanded tactics and a Prime Minister who's willing to work hard to remove the rot.

Clearly John Key isn't the Prime Minister we need to clean up Dirty Politics.

Three weeks before the election, action is being taken across the country voicing a rejection of the National Government's track record and direction. Rallies are being held in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin to oppose National's attacks on workers, abuse of the environment, inequality, cronyism and dirty politics. “This government has increased the power of the few over the many and the ability of business to profit from dirtying our land, rivers and sea. It has dealt backhanders out to its mates while using government employees to attack and smear those bold enough to stand up for the New Zealand we used to have. Their prescription for the next 3 years is for more of the same” says Joe Trinder, Mana Candidate for Manukau East, who will speak at the rally.

The marches will include music, street theatre and speeches from some of those opposed to National's programme for New Zealand, in a line up that includes environmental, political, social and union groups. These include Edward Miller from Kiwis Concerned About the TPPA, Robert Reid - First Union, Rachel Mackintosh – EPMU, Maui's and Hector's Dolphin Defenders NZ, Ashley Tata – Auckland Action Against Poverty, Miriam Pierard – Auckland Central InternetMANA candidate, Michael Wood – Labour candidate for Epsom, Joe Carolan (Unite) and the Service and Food Workers' Union. Music from Jenny Lange (folk) Matt Billington (punk) and Phil Thoms (Herbs – Reggae).

The Auckland rally starts at Aotea Square, Wellington at Te Papa marching to Parliament, Dunedin held at the Octagon and the Christchurch rally at Haley Park, all beginning 1pm. Auckland Event organiser Jeremy Randerson says “These rallies will unite the opposition to the current government; our strength is in the diversity of our voices brought together. For me, I am calling for leadership in the country that supports living wages, a clean environment and an independent New Zealand, rather than a programme of trashing our environment for short term gain and a steady concentration of power and resources into the hands of a select few. This is not the country I grew up in and not one I will allow to be handed on to our children”.

We all know that Cameron Slater AKA Whale Oil is a bit of a dick at the best of times. His stupidity and vindictive nature is clearly evident throughout the book Dirty Politics and on his discredited blog site, Whale Oil Beef Hooked.

After years of claiming the articles published there were all his own work, we now have proof that Cameron Slater is nothing more than a charlatan! There is no doubt that Slater is getting paid to publish the National party and tobacco industries defamatory attacks on people they don't like.

It is little wonder then that some journalists have chosen to now distance themselves from the right wing muckraker. Last week, the prominent journalist David Fisher wrote about his bad experiences in dealing with Cameron Slater.

I've been accused of receiving stolen goods, had it suggested my performance at work was under question and had described sexual acts it is suggested might be inflicted upon me. I learned from reading posts about me that there is material on Whaleoil which is untrue, and much which so skewed it makes it difficult to discern what lies behind matters stated baldly as fact.

It is my opinon that Slater has cultivated on his blog such a nasty environment there can be no genuine benefit in dealing with him as a source.

How terrible for Cameron Slater's overinflated ego that a journalist has openly dared to do the right thing and walk away. Of course psychopaths rarely handle rejection very well, which is pretty evident from a recent email Slater sent to Fisher:

You are the one who breached their anonymity by continuing to print stolen and illegally obtained emails.

You are a disgrace.

Are you seriously [saying] people aren’t entitled to freedom of expression’? Sounds like it. The bully pulpit of the Herald has sunk so low.

I wonder when you will start featuring the paid staffers at The Standard who actually write posts…instead of continuing your jihad.

Don’t contact me again…see you in the market.

Most of that bleating doesn't make much sense. However, I would hazard a guess and say that the only one David Fisher has been tainted by is rotten old Whale Oil. Clearly Cameron Slater has no integrity or credibility to speak of. He is a discredited hack who is now having a tantrum about his true nature being exposed.

Politics is a strange old chestnut with the motivations of those playing the game not always apparent to the rest of us. However, more often than not the politicians invariably only have their own vested interests at heart with little regard for how their decisions and actions might affect voters.

Although a concise summary, the Dirty Politics book is likely only hinting at how nasty the nest of vipers in parliament really are. That's the only logical conclusion one can reach after reading about Judith Collins' self-interested attempt to oust the Prime Minster recently.

Winston Peters stands by his assertion he was approached to do a post-election deal with National with Judith Collins as leader, but the prime minister says Peters is headline-grabbing.

The NZ First leader today said he was prepared to swear an affidavit that he had been approached about the possibility of working with Collins, if he didn't want to work with Key post election.

Peters said he believed the approach had been an attempt to undermine the prime minister and that Justice Minister Collins was likely to have been aware of it.

I tend to believe Winston Peters. It would stand to reason that the hard-right Collins was looking at pushing the more centre-right Key out of his role as leader of the National party. She would obviously need to do some sort of back room deal beforehand. This would have been all about the numbers folks!

Thankfully Dirty Politics has now put an end to her unrealistic aspirations. Before Nicky Hager shone a rather enormous light on the scene, Collins was widely touted as the next National party leader. It sickens me to think that she could have even become the next Prime Minister of New Zealand. Oh how the tables have turned.

Prime Minister John Key has dismissed Winston Peters’ claim that he was approached by someone who asked him if he would work with Judith Collins if she was National Party leader.

However Key did add it would “theoretically” be a sackable offence if Peters’ allegation of treachery were true, before saying: “it won’t be true”.

The NZ First leader today said he would swear an affidavit that someone asked him and that he would “put his life on it”.

In my opinion, Key cannot simply take the risk of letting Collins off Scott-free. By failing to properly look into this matter, Key is simply trying to protect the National party from imploding! In fact he would be best advised to dismiss Judith Collins after an investigation into her misconduct provides a reasonable excuse that will be acceptable to the more pragmatic National supporters out there.

If Key continues to look weak on Collins, after she likely attempted to mount a coup against him, more voters will lose their respect for the Prime Minister. The scenario of people giving their support to Key just to end up with Collins is something that will be playing on many people's minds, and that's not a good position for National to be in just week's out from an election.

Published by the
Jackal

28 Aug 2014

It seems highly unusual for a Minister of the Crown who has repeatedly transgressed and abused her position to still be a Minister. Not only has Judith Collins been found to have leaked the private information of a public servant to attack blogger Cameron Slater for the express purpose of abusing Simon Pleasants, she has also been found to have leaked the private information of ACC claimant Bronwyn Pullar in order to defame her.

There is no doubt that Judith Collins’ underhanded tactics have directly caused people to be harassed and abused online. I find this somewhat ironic being that it was Crusher Collins herself who first initiated cyber bullying laws which have only recently come into effect. It's also ironic that a so-called Justice Minister has acted with such disregard for natural justice and the letter of the law.

Clearly in breach of her duty to act fairly, the Minister hasn't even bothered to apologise for her numerous and entirely unacceptable transgressions. Believing herself above the law, the Minister has even claimed that she's already been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Under-pressure Justice Minister Judith Collins has had to backtrack this morning, after mistakenly saying the Privacy Commissioner had cleared her of wrong-doing in giving the details of a public servant to Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater.

But Privacy Commissioner John Edwards did no such thing, and suggested that he would investigate if the public servant in question, Internal Affairs official Simon Pleasants, laid a complaint.

Ms Collins' actions were exposed in Nicky Hager's Dirty Politics. She gave the details of Mr Pleasants to Mr Slater, who published them, leading Mr Pleasants to be abused on his WhaleOil blog.

However, it was far worse than just a bit of abuse. In passing on the private details of a public servant she didn't like, the Minister and her attack blogger caused Simon Pleasants to receive serious death threats. This is something Collins won't even acknowledge let alone be properly interviewed about.

Believing herself immune to public pressure, the Minister of injustice is displaying a complete lack of any moral judgement. Clearly the unwise Judith Collins is therefore not fit to be a Minister, and in my opinion she's not fit to be in parliament at all.

Why then has the Prime Minister not sacked her? Surely John Key cannot condone such despicable behaviour as that displayed by Judith Collins? Because of the serious nature of such underhanded dealings she has been a party to, I believe it's important to find the reasons behind the apparent lack of any standards within the National party, standards that John Key had promised he would hold his Ministers accountable to.

Some commentators have claimed that the reason the Minister hasn't yet been sacked is because it would look bad in the lead up to an election. However the overwhelming consensus is that Judith Collins must have some dirt on John Key and is effectively blackmailing him to retain her position. This may seem far-fetched unless you've actually read Nicky Hager's excellent book, Dirty Politics, to see what these evil people really get up to.

Personally I think it's a little bit of both...Key cannot afford to lose such a high-profile Minister just week's before polling day. He also cannot afford to have Judith Collins and her attack blogger go feral and start campaigning against him. However there is the distinct possibility that Judith Collins has something over John Key, something that the Prime Minister will do just about anything to keep out of the public domain.

Published by the
Jackal

27 Aug 2014

New Zealander's in general may not be aware that we have some of the best writers in the world here in Gods own country. In terms of literature, us Kiwis certainly punch well above our small populations weight. One such author who in my opinion always raises the bar and perhaps doesn't get the recognition she deserves is Anne Salmond.

Not only is Salmond meticulous about the veracity of what she's writing, her scholarly articles often get right to the heart of the topic and provide well-timed advice for the government and voters alike. That's exactly what her latest article set out to achieve...provide solutions to a particularly serious issue that the government cannot continue to ignore, Dirty Politics.

The Dirty Politics saga cuts to the heart of political life in New Zealand. Over the past 10 years there has been an insidious shift in the way that government works, with increasingly autocratic, arrogant ministers taking away the levers of power from citizens and civil servants.

The independence of the civil service has been eroded, with ministers routinely interfering in operational decisions. Last year, the Law Society felt impelled to report to the United Nations that Parliament had been used to pass a succession of acts that strip away rights, freedoms and protections from citizens, in breach of the Bill of Rights. Ministerial accountability has become a farce.

Anne Salmond isn't the only one to have noticed our government’s steady decline into a strange form of neoliberal totalitarianism. Cameron Slater and Simon Lusk’s fascist agenda has clearly caused the foundations of our democracy to erode.

It is this steady erosion of democratic checks and balances in New Zealand that makes politicians feel above the law and contemptuous of those they represent. As the old adage goes, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

If many Kiwis feel disgusted with politics and politicians, and powerless at present, they have good reason.

If the Prime Minister's office has indeed worked with the SIS to attack the Leader of the Opposition, or colluded with a muck-raking blogger to vilify people who disagree with the ruling party, this is reprehensible, and a constitutional disgrace. It is the kind of governance that makes Kiwis feel terrible about their own country. It's not okay.

Through their attack bloggers, the National party has been sowing the seeds of distrust throughout the land. They have perpetuated an agenda of hate that has in many cases destroyed lives. That's not the type of country we should accept now or leave for our children to clean up.

In terms of a solution, the distinguished University professor's words speak for themselves:

Unless executive power can be reined in, however, we can expect a succession and perhaps an acceleration of such abuses, no matter who is in power.

What's needed is a truly independent and high-level inquiry (perhaps a royal commission) to investigate the internal workings of government in New Zealand, and recommend a form of governance that has integrity, is truly democratic, and fit for the 21st century.

An election is one time when politicians are forced to listen to ordinary people. Kiwis from across the political spectrum have the chance to demand a much higher standard of conduct and decision-making from their elected representatives.

We have the right to live in a democracy where our leaders do not lie to us, or abuse their powers, or strip away our freedoms. They need to represent what's best, not what's worst about New Zealand. We are entitled to feel proud and confident about the way we're governed, not embarrassed and ashamed.

There are decent people in all political parties. They must take urgent steps to clean up politics in New Zealand, and to restore democratic checks and balances to the political process. It must adversely affect the lives of politicians, and make them wonder what happened to their own ideals, and how they became complicit in such a dirty game.

This article by Anne Salmond is another fine feather to her literary cap, which is why she wins this week's Hero award. Keep up the good work.

Published by the
Jackal

26 Aug 2014

After reading Nicky Hager's book, Dirty Politics, which documents the underhanded way certain right wing attack bloggers operate to destabilize our democracy, I was surprised at just how devious National's very own black-ops team acted towards certain prospective National party candidates they didn't like.

It appears that the more moderate and conservative the National party candidate was, the more abuse he or she would receive from Cameron Slater and Simon Lusk on behalf of the candidate they were representing.

All of this was designed to shift National away from the political centre and further in line with Slater & co.'s questionable belief system. Unable to enter politics themselves, these traitors instead focused on cutting the throats of anybody who stood in the way of their extreme right wing agenda.

Church-goer who sought National seat speaks out over blog’s ‘smear campaign’.

National Party member Brent Robinson says he is disappointed and upset about what he calls an "atrocious" smear campaign during the Rodney candidate selection in 2011, as outlined in Nicky Hager's Dirty Politics.

And although speaking out will do the party no favours, he hopes it will see politics cleaned up.

Mr Robinson was one of five hopefuls for the Rodney selection in 2011, eventually won by Mark Mitchell, who went on to become MP.

Dirty Politics, based on emails stolen from Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater, appears to show Mr Slater collaborating with political strategist Simon Lusk to push for Mr Mitchell.

Whether Mark Mitchell was paying for the services of the deplorable Whale Oil is still to be determined. However, what we do know for certain is that such dirty tactics were raising serious concerns within the National party itself.

Leaked minutes of a National Party board meeting in March show major concerns over a party member who is so close to some of the party's MPs that he presents a serious risk to the party and its image.

But when 3 News asked Prime Minister John Key to explain, he said he did not know of any concerns.

Under questioning though, he did start to recall.
The man in question is Simon Lusk, who loves the outdoors but who also sees himself as a big fish in the National Party.

3 News is told he gets paid to give strategic advice to about a dozen of the party's MPs and aspiring MPs.

But secret National Party board minutes from March released to 3 News show the party is so worried about Mr Lusk's influence that his "agenda represents a serious risk to the party".

It's hard to determine just how many current MPs have been unfairly assisted into their positions within the National party because of Whale Oil's smear campaigns. But in terms of subverting our democratic process, this would seem to be Slater's greatest success story. However, because he has now been exposed, Slater was ironically and unknowingly undermining the National party.

I wouldn't be surprised if long time National supporters find this revelation hard to accept. Some may even choose to try and ignore National's dirty politics, but I suspect many will be so repulsed by Cameron Slater and his close ties to various National MPs that they will look for a different party to vote for in the upcoming general election.

The National party can no longer claim they stand for the long held beliefs and values of its founders. Instead, it has a sickness that if not promptly dealt with will further weaken the entire party. That's another valid reason why it's important to change the government on September 20, to give National the time it needs to clean up its act and take out the trash.

There's been an extremely lot of articles written about and comments on the factual information Nicky Hager has expertly expressed in his new book, Dirty Politics. Many bloggers and journalists alike have conveyed their utter distaste at such an ugly system of smear campaigns and attack politics operating in Gods own New Zealand, and quite rightly so.

What has surprised me is that many presumed right wing journalists have also jumped ship and condemned the current administration for their unconstitutional manipulations. Not only has National been copping it from the left, their campaign is also getting derailed by journalists that have sometimes been sympathetic to national's now unrealistic campaign to be re-elected.

We are witnessing something never seen before: this is the dirtiest campaign in New Zealand political history.

Yes, politics has always been gutter, but this is a new low. This is hacking, stealing and fear. This is about a group of bloggers and political operatives dealing to opponents with brutal tactics and blackmail. The Mafia would be impressed.

If those persistently high polls have been giving the impression that John Key can walk on water, the first post-Hager poll will show whether he can walk on sewage.

Just how deeply National's progress towards election day becomes mired in the underfoot unpleasantness that Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics has laid out will depend on more than the immediate public reaction.

[...]

Certainly the initial, seemingly airy rebuff that the public will see through all this and won't care is looking like a perilous approach. In particular, attention must turn to the charge that blogger Cameron Slater was tipped off by the Prime Minister's office to seek SIS documentation that embarrassed former Labour Leader Phil Goff.

Justice Minister Judith Collins has become a liability to Prime Minister John Key, the Government and more widely, and disturbingly, the country.

How a Minister of Justice, entrusted with upholding the highest standards in the land, can lower her own personal standards to feed confidential personal information about a civil servant to a right-wing blogger - knowing full-well the consequences of her actions - is beyond most right-minded people.

Mr Key should sack Ms Collins now, but will not take that action.

The reason he will not sack her is, of course, because the election is a month away and to remove the Justice Minister now will give further oxygen to an issue he has already handled badly.

Whaledump's release of emails has forced Mr Key to stop defending Ms Collins. It must surely have also cemented her fate. Ms Collins has never hidden her wish to lead the National Party but it now seems inconceivable that she could head off the competent Steven Joyce when Mr Key departs. Indeed, those who would gather around her in a caucus now have real pause for thought on how not to tarnish their own political brands.

Having failed to talk Hager into submission, Key has suddenly gone silent. At his post-launch press conference, he simply refused to answer questions on the subject. The media had had a "good chew" and "we have moved on from there".

Some very pertinent questions remain unanswered, however, namely why Key has not sacked Judith Collins from the Justice portfolio and why she has not apologised to the public servant who received death threats after she passed private information to Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater.

The switch in tactics is understandable, if not defendable. Last week was the week from hell for the Prime Minister. He is in no mood for a repeat.

This is just a few of many mainstream media articles that are damning the National led government and their underhanded operations to covertly smear opponents using attack bloggers.

Surely the Prime Minister cannot ignore the fact that these centre right journalists are rightfully asking the hard questions about his and his Ministers involvement in dirty politics?

It's well past time that John Key stepped into the light and gave some proper answers as to why such corruption has been allowed to fester in our halls of power.

If he's unwilling to come clean, then he should simply resign for his dereliction of duty and complicity in National's unacceptable and undemocratic behaviour.

On Sunday, the political program Q+A had a panel discussing the Dirty Politics revelations that have by all accounts but their own badly derailed the National parties campaigning. What I found most surprising about this panel is that it included somebody implicated in the right wings underhanded attack politics, David Farrar.

Not only was David Farrar AKA Pinko to his "friends" on the show, he was allowed to bleat on for ages while other panellists were closed out of the discussion. The nervous little man tried his best to downplay his seedy role in National's black-ops team, saying that it was merely people sharing information and that other political parties do it all the time as well. Yeah right!

Being that National Minister's have been providing sensitive information to their pet attack bloggers in order to discredit the people they don't like, and that no other political party has ever been found to have acted similarly, there is no validity to such a patently disingenuous argument. In other words there are no excuses for such despicably undemocratic behaviour.

By trying to minimize the terrible truth, David Farrar et al are clasping at straws in the hope that New Zealanders aren't interested in what the government and their propagandists get up to. Seemingly aided by a biased media, they intend to try and sweep the Dirty Politics scandal under the rug without having properly answered any of the pressing questions Nicky Hager's book raises.

However, some things cannot be hidden or covered up, and instead need to be exposed for all to see. Here's one such excerpt from the source material that deserves further attention:

Apparently Pinko is the main driving force behind the Princess party
-------------------------
Simon Lusk, 4/26, 12:03am

well i was going to say i have cleared the field for you, given you the most likely targets and will get them drunk for you
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 4/26, 12:03am

he has invited [REDACTED] to it and to the one the next night
-------------------------
Simon Lusk, 4/26, 12:03am

righto, good cleint recruitment

he asked if he can bring neil miller, which i said yes to
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 4/26, 12:04am

she likes threesomes so it could be promising for her and a young nat
-------------------------
Simon Lusk, 4/26, 12:05am

i'd try [REDACTED] she is filthy

not many young nats coming, i told jordan i didnt want them because they are retards
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 4/26, 12:05am

just dirty girls who flip it up
-------------------------
Simon Lusk, 4/26, 12:06am

thats the plan, and i have carefully kept the balance of princesses to guys uneven

make sure [REDACTED] knows not to come without a full princess outfit and a bottle of bubbly
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 4/26, 12:08am

i better go book a fucking moneky suit

David Farrar, a trustee of the Free Speech Coalition, has tried his best to dismiss the 'Princess Party' as some sort of celebration of the Royals. In my opinion the discussion above shows that his weak defense is highly flawed. Clearly the sex party these National party propagandists set up was anything but innocent.

Old men organizing a party, then targeting and getting young woman drunk in order to have sex with them is clearly the activity of sexual deviants and such people should have no place within our political system.

The leaked communications between Cameron Slater and Simon Lusk are a pretty damn good reason not to have the repulsive David Farrar on our TV trying to defend his and the National parties dirty politics. His involvement in the 'Princess Party' is another good reason not to vote for National as well.

The Internet MANA party launched their 'Meet the Future' campaign at Western Springs College yesterday. Of course the mainstream media chose not to report on the actual event, instead opting to goad Pam Corkery into swearing at them.

What she was pissed off about was that journalists like Brook Sabin and Michael Parkin had already been given an unequivocal answer to the questions they were asking...Kim Dotcom isn't Whaledump.

Now that we've cleared that up, here's something the mainstream media doesn't want you to know about...a message of hope from Laila Harré:

It has been interesting to see the mainstream medias response to Nicky Hager's new book, Dirty Politics. Some journalists have chosen to take a rather lop-sided view while others have rightly expressed their utter distaste at what has transpired. A few right wing journalists have even had a tantrum about their beloved National party getting slated!

Of course there's the more prominent casualties like attack blogger Cameron Slater, who will face a number of prosecutions if he ever grows a pair and returns to New Zealand. His accomplices might not know it yet, but David Farrar, Simon Lusk, Aaron Bhatnagar and Jason Ede's careers are effectively over as well.

Furthermore, there's the damage done to John Key himself and various National party Ministers implicated in the Dirty Politics scandal whose credibility is now in tatters. They know that the National party, because of their black-op teams activity, will be another casualty at the upcoming election and have generally reacted terribly to this news.

Perhaps the biggest overreaction however was from right wing spin-doctor Bill Ralston, who after reading the disgusting emails between propagandist Cameron Slater and National party official Aaron Bhatnagar, coupled with a bit of reactive tweeting, decided to pack a sad and quit twitter:

Right. That's it. I'm retiring from twiiter until after the election. Too many left trolls. You win. And good luck to that mateys! Cheers
— Bill Ralston (@BillyRalston) August 18, 2014

Other so-called journalists have had their careers entirely extinguished because of their involvement in National's dirty politics. Cathy Odgers AKA Cactus Kate for instance is one such causality with the NZ Herald dropping her like a stone. Published on Friday, the issues this excellent post by Naked Capitalism raise show why Cactus Kate is all washed up with nowhere to go.

To their credit, the more dedicated right wing journalists have decided to stick it out and try to defend the embattled and beleaguered Prime Minister. There's not many of them, but most notably the overzealous Mike Hosking hasn't retracted his initial incorrect statements about nor apologised for his unfounded attack on Nicky Hager.

Jane Clifton in the Listener has also come out strongly in support of the National party, despite seemingly not having read the book let alone the leaked emails that verify its claims. Like Hosking, she stupidly tries to attack Hager's credibility, something that has utterly failed to work as a defense for National's despicable and undemocratic behaviour.

Wheezing with anger, Sean Plunket also had a go at Selwyn Manning over what the book reveals. However, the person who's been trying to front-foot one of the main issues on behalf of the National government has been Fairfax political journalist Andrea Vance. She tried to defend the indefensible actions of Justice Minister Judith Collins on The Nation yesterday, claiming that it's not unusual to have Official Information Act requests fast-tracked by Ministers.

After a bit of negative commentary about her ludicrous stance, Vance took to twitter to try and defend her biased opinion. She then went on to tweet that at the time Cameron Slater received preferential treatment from Judith Collins and the then head of the SIS Warren Tucker, other media outlets had also received the requested information at the same time. Here's our twitter exchange:

What makes her assertions patently false is a video of a press conference with the Prime Minister taken after the SIS OIA release to Cameron Slater showing a reputable reporter stating that they were still waiting for the requested information.

The video also shows John Key stating that he was briefed about the OIA release. Clearly he knew about the information that was released to their attack blogger Cameron Slater, which totally contradicts his more recent statements:

I guess that John Key, his minders and Andrea Vance have absolutely no respect for the general publics intelligence or they're just too stupid to remember what actually happened and what the Prime Minister said back in August 2011.

The Prime Ministers machinations aside, the main casualty in all of this is unfortunately our democracy, which has been badly abused by the National government and their propagandists.

Clearly it's time for a more honest and intelligent administration in New Zealand. Therefore let's vote the corrupt National government out on September 20.

New Zealand should be the fairest, most decent society in the world. We’re a small nation with a lot of resources. We have a culture of working hard and looking after each other. A fair go for everyone, and putting people first.

Our vision for New Zealand is that we regain that sense of community. That we work together in the interests of everyone, instead of just playing politics.

Right now that’s not the way things are going. Labour believes we can do better.

That we can be a country in which people matter most.

Labour has a positive vision for New Zealand - a New Zealand where there are enough secure, well- paid jobs, where every family can afford a warm, dry home, and where every Kiwi kid gets the best start in life.

Together, with a Labour-led Government, we can build a nation to be proud of.

23 Aug 2014

You may have noticed that the mask has entirely slipped from the National parties face, taking their pretence of being honourable with it. Because of the revelations in Nicky Hager's excellent book, Dirty Politics, no longer can people like John Key, Judith Collins and Gerry Brownlee pretend to have the best interest of New Zealand at heart, because it appears that they don't have a heart at all.

Instead, there's a poisonous cesspit of vipers where the heart of our democracy used to be. The venomous articles and comments that National party Minister's and officials spit out under various pseudonyms to anonymously smear people they don't like will be a distasteful poison many voters will be put off by. However many more will resolve to change this corrupt government.

In one email to Slater he said: "I'm just motivated to cut throats. Unfortunately the biggest buzz I get is when I wreck someone, only done it three times, but I was on a massive high."

Clearly the right wing consultant and National party propagandist Simon Lusk is an unhinged psychopath who should have no place within New Zealand politics. The best way to ensure that such sick and twisted individuals have no influence over those in power is to vote for a change in government on September 20. Make sure you get out and vote.

In just over a week we've gone from the Prime Minister claiming that nothing in Nicky Hager's new book, Dirty Politics, was true to irrefutable proof that Ministers and their staff were directly involved in smear campaigns using the poisonous blog site, Whale Oil Beef Hooked.

What has transpired in the last ten days is nothing less than remarkable and shows that the National party was using attack bloggers like Cameron Slater and David Farrar as a front to publish their own dirty and disgusting propaganda, something that should be entirely unacceptable to most voters in a fair and decent democracy like New Zealand.

While John Key was trying to say that Hager was nothing more than a conspiracy theorist and that left wing political parties were somehow involved in the Dirty Politics scandal, the truth of the matter is that a number of high-ranking Minister's within National's inner circle were conspiring together to anonymously attack members of the public, parliamentary staffers and left wing politicians.

The press secretary of Cabinet minister Gerry Brownlee has admitted posting anonymously to the Whale Oil blog as the impact of Dirty Politics continues to hit the election campaign.

Nick Bryant was named in Dirty Politics as the person who had used the pseudonym "Former Hack" to post anonymous comments encouraging blogger Cameron Slater's campaign against a public servant which resulted in death threats.

The Herald was able to confirm the use of Mr Bryant's ministerial computer through details obtained from an individual other than the hacker who also accessed information from Whale Oil during the Denial of Service attack.

Under "Former Hack", Mr Bryant told Slater "well done" on a post which attacked Simon Pleasants. He told others he agreed calls should be placed to ask why Mr Pleasants was still employed and told Slater "you might have one for the harpoon gallery there" - the so-called Whale Oil roll call of sacked officials.

Cabinet minister Gerry Brownlee’s press secretary, Nick Bryant, was clearly gloating about the success of National’s latest smear campaign against what by all other accounts is a completely innocent person. There’s no doubt in my mind that their groundless and underhanded attack caused the public servant, Simon Pleasants, a large amount of personal and professional damage.

Mr Pleasants is the same public servant whose personal details were sent from Justice Minister Judith Collins to Slater, which were then published on the blog. The information shows the people who comment on Whale Oil have effectively lost their anonymity.

In the file held by the Herald, hundreds of messages sent from people working on ministerial or government computers are linked to the servers and IP addresses from which they were posted. The file links those details with email addresses - including Mr Bryant's.

Instead of working for New Zealand, the National party and those they employ have been wasting their and our time making disgusting and pathetic comments on Whale Oil Beef Hooked. They were in effect using large amounts of taxpayer's money to anonymously troll the Internet.

When asked if he used the name "Former Hack" to do so, he said: "Nicky Hager said I was the person who posted as that."

Told of the new information, Mr Bryant said: "What I will say is I stopped commenting around that time. They were about the only comments I made on that blog."

Mr Hager's book links Mr Bryant to another anonymous name - but the Herald has found the email account linked to messages from the person is actually registered in the name of yet another ministerial staff member.

A spokesman for Internal Affairs refused to comment on individual staff members. He said "appropriate action" would be taken against a staff member who acted inappropriately.

Press secretary Nick Bryant

With such robust evidence showing that a large number of Ministerial staffer’s were using right wing blog sites like Whale Oil Beef Hooked to anonymously attack people they didn’t like, there’s no question that Minister’s like Gerry Brownlee, Judith Collins and Anne Tolley were aware, if not directly involved in such despicable and reprehensible behaviour.

In fact all the evidence is starting to paint a pretty damning and detailed picture that shows National’s dirty politics is a right wing conspiracy orchestrated by the Prime Minister himself no less. In light of recent developments, surely an early retirement with a nice holiday in Hawaii is in order for the ringleader of National's dirty politics, John Key?

Published by the
Jackal

22 Aug 2014

Because of Nicky Hager's excellent book, Dirty Politics, we know that a number of senior National party officials and Ministers have been caught out supplying information and content to the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blogsite, information that Cameron Slater uses to try and discredit the opposition with.

What we didn't know however until today was that the Minister for Police and Corrections, Anne Tolley through her office staff appear to also be directly supplying the despicable Cameron Slater with sensitive information.

Personally I think this is an entirely unacceptable type of politicking, whereby government officials at the behest of their Ministers who have access to large amounts of sensitive data are choosing to provide it to attack bloggers like Cameron Slater and David Farrar. It's a dirty and disgusting form of politics that should have no place in New Zealand's democracy.

i got those stats out of tolleys office, seems Gillon has worked out that feeding the whale might help
-------------------------
Simon Lusk, 2/21, 1:59am

yes they should have all worked it out now
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 2/21, 2:05am

I had jonathan marshall asking me why i drip ffed all the cehill stuff and don't just do a big post

idiot repeaters

they obviously don't know about WOBH Rules of Politics #43

Death by a Thousand cuts is always better than a swift beheading

Gillon refers to Anne Tolley's media contact, Gillon Carruthers.

Unfortunately the article in the Gisborne Herald concerning this matter has been taken offline, probably because the National party is determined to not let the damaging truth be widely reported on. Too late!

Clearly it's only the National party who've been caught providing sensitive information to their attack bloggers. The Prime Minister's claims that all political parties undertake similar covert and unacceptable practices is another pathetic lie to try and shift the focus off of their underhanded tactics.

Let's hope that the media continues to give National's Dirty Politics the attention it deserves.

One aspect of the disgusting messages between National party propagandist Cameron Slater and his accomplice Aaron Bhatnagar that hasn't been picked up on by the mainstream media yet is their discussion about Peter Leitch AKA the Mad Butcher.

This part of the information released by the Dirty Politics source Whaledump is highly concerning, mainly because of the claim by Cameron Slater that Peter Leitch had apparently said he wanted to kill Labour MP Darien Fenton.

Did any media call you about it?
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 9/30, 9:21am

he said to me off the record he wants to "bury the fucking bitch"

not a word from media

are you ready for tamaki
-------------------------
Aaron Bhatnagar, 9/30, 9:21am

Love that guy.

Shared a flight with me around 15 years ago - told me he was envious of all the student orgies my mates and I were having and he wanted to be invited along.
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 9/30, 9:22am

I believe this is a serious matter because if Peter Leitch did actually say that he wanted to "bury the fucking bitch" when talking about Darien Fenton, that in my opinion is a clear threat to kill or do grievous bodily harm to her, which is a serious crime under the New Zealand Crimes Act 1961 (PDF), which states:

306 Threatening to kill or do grievous bodily harm

(1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years who—
(a) threatens to kill or do grievous bodily harm to any person; or
(b) sends or causes to be received, knowing the contents thereof, any letter or writing containing any threat to kill or do grievous bodily harm to any person.

Either Cameron Slater is smearing Peter Leitch behind his back for some reason, in effect defaming the Mad Butcher, or there is truth to his statement and a threat really was made. Being that this deserves more attention, I asked Peter Leitch directly about what Cameron Slater had written:

Knowing what Cameron Slater is like I tend to believe Peter Leitch. However, it might be that he's simply forgotten what he said and without a proper investigation into this matter we may unfortunately never know whether Slater was smearing Peter Leitch's credibility with a blatant lie or if the Mad Butcher did actually talk about killing Darien Fenton?

21 Aug 2014

Jason Ede is another go-between John Key and the National party employs to pass information on to their attack bloggers. Paid as a ministerial services staff member, Ede is in fact working directly for National's black op's team to undermine the opposition by passing on sensitive information, writing articles for and coaching right wing bloggers like Cameron Slater and David Farrar.

Jason Ede is in effect being paid by the taxpayer to promote the National party, which is clearly against the rules and raises further concerns about other ways the National party might be misusing taxpayers money. Clearly National isn't allowed to use public funds to secretly publish its propaganda attacking opposition parties through a third party.

In light of his role in the Dirty Politics scandal, John Key has tried to distance himself from the deceitful and unscrupulous Jason Ede. At the same time, Ede himself has tried to distance himself from those in the National party who were instructing him and the bloggers he was in turn working with to smear opposition parties.

Ede is at the centre of claims in Nicky Hager's Dirty Politics book, in which it is alleged he fed gossip, research and tips to Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater.

Paid by the taxpayer as a ministerial services staff, Ede is also accused of infiltrating a Labour party database, which contained sensitive personal information. Slater said the website was insecure.

Ede was spotted in the Parliamentary complex last week - with a security access swipe card - despite National saying he is employed by them at the party's Wellington head office.

The dismally pathetic Jason Ede would have been trying to cover his tracks and attempting to remove evidence of his underhanded crimes against democracy. The problem for him and National is that there will still be a record of his collusion with their attack bloggers, because it appears the idiot propagandist used computers in Parliament that log all activity. This should make any investigation into his scurrilous activity and the evidence it uncovers pretty self-evident.

While John Key is trying to say that Jason Ede no longer works for the National party, he clearly does. In light of this lie you’ve got to wonder what exactly it will take for the Prime Minister to put his foot down and actually sack somebody? Not only is Jason Ede a weak willed individual, it appears, through his inaction, that the leader of the National party is as well.

One of the most concerning things about this scandal surrounding the National parties dirty tactics is the fact that John Key appears to be a gutless wonder who has no intention of holding his Ministers to account.

Not only has the Prime Minister failed to adhere to his promise that one of the main players, Judith Collins, was on a final warning because she mislead him and the media over her use of taxpayers money concerning her husbands private business interests, he appears to in fact be scared of the Justice Minister and her pet attack blogger, Cameron Slater.

Instead of fearing for his political career because of National's infighting, John Key should fear for his political career because of the public's backlash against the underhanded and devious dealings exposed by Nicky Hager's excellent book, Dirty Politics.

If you needed any further indication that the public has had quite enough of the unscrupulous and nasty "Justice" Minister, Judith Collins, here it is:

Clearly time is up for Collins and John Key should do the right thing by sacking her.

New emails reinforce the link between Whale Oil and Jason Ede in Prime Minister John Key's office.

But there is also the link between Justice Minister Judith Collins, Whale Oil and a man called Aaron Bhatnagar. Mr Bhatnagar is the man Mr Hager says first went inside Labour's computers before telling Whale Oil, who took advantage.

3 News can reveal that Ms Collins later gave Mr Bhatnagar a top public job.

One has to assume that Judith Collins was rewarding Bhatnagar for helping Slater smear the Labour party during the hacked database scandal. After the Minister claimed that she "barely knew the guy," what other valid explanation is there for his appointment?

Aaron Bhatnagar, the liaison between senior National party members and Cameron Slater, was meant to ensure that those at the top weren't directly implicated by the smear campaigns run on their behalf on sites like Whale Oil Beef Hooked and Kiwiblog.

Unfortunately for the National party, Nicky Hager's new book and the release of verifying emails clearly show a direct link between National and their underhanded propagandists, and despite John Key trying to distance himself, the Prime Minister is directly implicated and associated with the diatribe of innuendo and smears published but not always written by Cameron Slater and David Farrar.

Along with a number of other right-wingers, Aaron Bhatnagar has also been shown to directly contribute defamatory material that attacks opposition parties under Cameron Slater's name. This isn't something that the general public should accept. We need a good clean out at parliament to ensure our democracy isn't adversely affected by National's dirty politics. The best way to do that is to change the government in September.

he is still on crutches
-------------------------
Aaron Bhatnagar, 6/3, 9:48am

probably knows the campaign is lost, and is simply looking for fun or a distraction
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 6/3, 9:48am

i rode 12km straight off having never ridden a boke in 22 years

bike

on tuesday i'll start rifding 20km a day for a week

then 30km a day for a week
-------------------------
Aaron Bhatnagar, 6/3, 9:49am

you were looking pretty cut in your photo clutching a bike. You have gained some serious silhouette
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 6/3, 9:49am

then 40km a day for a week

i'm hunting at the moment so getting some good core traing done...walking and running rough ground works wonders on the midriff...and holding a6kg gun all day in front of you certainly works the upper body
-------------------------
Aaron Bhatnagar, 6/3, 9:50am

I expect Epsom to open up shortly. The board will 99% be likely to tick off this comings Weds.

opens up a few days after
-------------------------
Cameron Slater, 6/3, 9:51am

New information showing that the Prime Minister was in fact briefed about the SIS releasing information to right wing blogger Cameron Slater has come to light.

It shows that the Director of Security at the time, Warren Tucker, had written directly to John Key to specifically inform him in accordance with the no surprises rule.

The issue of the information being fast-tracked in order to cause collateral damage to Labour aside, it appears that Warren Tucker did the right thing in accordance with the rules by briefing John Key, the Minister responsible for the SIS.

Espiner: So, you’re the Minister responsible for the SIS, yet you did not sign off on that request?

Key: No.

Espiner: You had no knowledge that a request had been made?

Key: I knew there were requests, cos, you know, yeah I would have known because generally they say “there’s a series of requests in to the SIS or the GCSB. But they often – well they always sign off on things on their own timetable.

A letter from a former SIS chief appears to contradict Prime Minister John Key's claim that he was not briefed about a controversial decision to release intelligence documents to Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater.

The 2011 letter from former SIS chief Warren Tucker was posted to Twitter by Newstalk ZB political editors Felix Marwick and Barry Soper this morning.

Here's the letter which confirms John Key lied, tweeted by Felix Marwick and Barry Soper:

This categorically shows that the Prime Minister was informed about the SIS releasing sensitive information to Cameron Slater that he used to discredit Phil Goff. In my opinion the Prime Minister misleading the public on such an important issue is entirely unacceptable! He should resign!

Published by the
Jackal

20 Aug 2014

New Zealand should be the fairest, most decent society in the world. We’re a small nation with a lot of resources. We have a culture of working hard and looking after each other. A fair go for everyone, and putting people first.

Our vision for New Zealand is that we regain that sense of community. That we work together in the interests of everyone, instead of just playing politics.

Right now that’s not the way things are going. Labour believes we can do better.

That we can be a country in which people matter most.

Labour has a positive vision for New Zealand - a New Zealand where there are enough secure, well- paid jobs, where every family can afford a warm, dry home, and where every Kiwi kid gets the best start in life.

Together, with a Labour-led Government, we can build a nation to be proud of.

Find out more: www.labour.org.nz

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